'Thought it was a pop up': Mets were surprised game-winning homer Sunday went out

'We've seen it over and over again. Balls keep on traveling'

7/22/2019, 2:08 PM
Jul 21, 2019; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Mike Yastrzemski (5) celebrates as he rounds the bases on a solo home run for a walk-off win against the New York Mets during the twelfth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports / Kelley L Cox
Jul 21, 2019; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Mike Yastrzemski (5) celebrates as he rounds the bases on a solo home run for a walk-off win against the New York Mets during the twelfth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports / Kelley L Cox

When Mike Yastrzemski lofted a fly ball to left field off the end of his bat in the 12th inning on Sunday against the Mets, no one thought it was going to leave the ballpark. Not Yastrzemski, not Robert Gsellman (who threw the pitch), and not Mickey Callaway

But it kept carrying, Jeff McNeil ran out of room, and the ball dropped into the first row of the left field seats to give the Giants a walk-off win in the 12th inning.

After the game, Gsellman was blunt about whether he thought the ball was going to leave the park.

"Absolutely not," Gsellman said when asked if he thought the ball was going out. "Thought it was a pop up. But once again, you get it in the air, it catches the wind and it just keeps going."

Callaway didn't think the ball was going out, either.

"It was (surprising)," Callaway said. "Especially who hit it. He stayed on it well, got it up in the air to the right part of this ballpark and it just kept on going. We've seen it over and over again. Balls keep on traveling."

So how did the ball make it out? 

It probably had a lot to do with the balls this season almost certainly being juiced. But it's juiced for everyone, and it's the Giants who took advantage on Sunday. 

Popular in the Community